Article: Realism vs Accuracy For Audiophiles | Part 1: Soundstage

[CG]

Excellent article.  I very much look forward to future installments!

 

Many years ago, my daughter was performing in her elementary school band in the usual array of winter and spring concerts in her school.  I thought it would be a good thing to record them, not only for posterity but as an experiment for me.  So, I did some research and purchased a Sony WM-D6C "Walkman Pro" cassette recorder and a pair of Sonic Studios binaural microphones.  You can tell from the vintage of the gear just when this was.  

 

Anyway, I sat toward the back of the room with my stealthy recording gear, doing my best to get the recording right.  

 

A few days later, I connected the Walkman Pro to the stereo system in the living room.  I'd avoided doing that, just out of fear of embarrassment.  (I hate to embarrass myself in front of me...)

 

It turned out that the recording was one of the most realistic recordings I had ever played through that sound system.  (Ironically, the very best sound I ever heard at a show was a similarly simple recording Richard Sequerra had made of the Greater Bridgeport Opera Company.  That was the only time I ever sat through an opera recording for more than nine seconds.  Except for a couple by The Who and The Kinks.) 

 

Obviously, that wasn't due to great talent or engineering skill on my part.  I had almost no experience and basically just made sure that I kept my head relatively still and the gain was set right.

 

That gear was hardly state of the art, at least compared to what actual professionals used, despite the name on the Walkman.  It was about as simple as you can get.

 

So, what was the deal?  In the end, I concluded two things.

 

One was that commercial recordings are not at all intended to represent a facsimile of live recordings.  Maybe at one time they were, but, if so, that went out the door long ago.  Expecting commercial recordings to sound like real life is a futile gesture, no matter how good your home audio system is.

 

The second was that recording for yourself could probably be a pretty fun activity and very rewarding.  So, naturally I just put the Walkman Pro and the microphones into a box and did nothing with them.  Except, my wife was going through some stuff the other day and found them.  I just bought a box of ATR blank cassettes (!).  I also bought a new MacBook Air with the idea of doing some digital recordings, too.  Maybe I'll get a second chance.  

[CG]

17 hours ago, bluesman said:

Actually, the Pro Walkman was a stellar piece of gear.  I bought mine in about December of 1982.  I got a gray market unit from the local "importer-exporter" of high end gear not available in the US.  It was no Nagra - but set up for the best tapes (type IV metal), it was absolutely one of the best cassette recorders on the market.  I used it for live recording with a 4 channel Sony portable mixer and a pair of ECM-21 electret mics, and it was truly spectacular.  I was the official recordist for my university's choir and orchestra, and it captured this large and very fine ensemble beautifully.  I even bootlegged many performances with a pair of tiny mics pinned to my lapels.

 

Tragic story!  I got mine when they were closing out the model in favor of the next great thing.  We had to go to J&R in NYC to find one.

 

What this all does highlight is that simple recording techniques with less, ahh, seasoning may give really special results.

 

The record companies certainly know their markets and what people will buy.  They adjust their seasoning to match.  That may be overdone for some of us.  But, we are in the minority of the minorities on this.

 

My wife, who spent her college days and before completely surrounded by musicians and music school, swears that the basic thing people want in recorded music is lyrics they understand and a backing beat of some kind.  That way they can sing or groove along to the music.  That has been true since the days of 78's and is basic to the activity.  She could well be right.  That's not the same as being transported to the recording venue...

[CG]

53 minutes ago, bluesman said:

Hmmm - that kinda leaves out Gregorian chants.

 

  

 

My wife very recently got a new car, with a very programmable entertainment system.

 

So, I was setting that part up for her and had it scan all the available FM radio stations in our area.

 

Not a one featured chanting.  Very disappointing.

 

Perhaps I should've scanned the AM band, too.

[CG]

55 minutes ago, bluesman said:

What did the Gregorian monk say when told he was being kicked out of the monastery for playing the blues?

 

"I promise to do better if you just give me the chants!"

 

🤦‍♂️